Music Groups for Children

[MrsCasa]

Not sure if this is an appropriate place for this topic but not sure where else to put it.

Have any of you had experience of music groups for children? What groups have you attended and would recommend or otherwise, or does anyone run a group. I'm thinking along the lines of "Music with Mummy".

I am looking for a way to earn a bit of cash while being a SAHM and would love to use my musical skills. Any advice would be great.

Thanks

I used to go to one of these with my dds when they were little - it was great fun and I've often thought about doing this sort of thing myself.

We used to go to a local church hall. The lady who did it (her children were at school) did several sessions per week in different locations within about a five mile radius.

She split the sessions into under 3s and 3+, with a bit of leeway wrt siblings. She started each session with a "hello" song, saying each child's name in turn. There was then a mixture of sitting down rhymes and action ones, and she had boxes with shakers, indian bells, guiros, claves etc for the children to join in rhythms. She finished with a goodbye song.

Just rereading your post - were you thinking of pre-schoolers or older children? If older ones then this is probably no use whatsoever! If you are thinking of pre-schoolers I can give you some more info on what went on at our music group, which may help you.

I have been taking my daughter now nearly 2 since she was 15 wks old to a music class.
She has three classes on once a week - Newborns, toddlers and lastly a mixture especially for parents with more than one child.
We are expected to arrive 10 minutes before the class starts for a biscuit and juice. When called we sit in a circle - we have a hello song and also a goodbye song sung at the end. The songs change on weekly basis depending on the children's ages and moods. She has backing tracks for the action songs but also plays the guitar which the children love..she also has puppets, scarfs and musical instruments.
The only downside I would say about our music class is that the teacher is not very motherly/friendly!

Thanks for your replies. What a strange career choice for an unmotherly person!

I was thinking of pre-schoolers. I suppose a baby group and a toddler group would be the best idea but I'd need to be flexible for people with more than one child.

Do you know if your groups were simply put together by the person who ran them or were they franchises like Music With Mummy?

Never heard of Music with Mummy - AFAIK the group I went to was just started up by the woman who ran it (who obviously adored children, BTW!!). It would be easy enough to do, although you would have to have some resources (our lady had scarves too but it was all unaccompanied singing).

I would say that groups were min 4, max 10 (children, that is). She used to do a reduced rate for the sibling. IIRC I paid about £2.75 per session + £1.75 for second dd, payable at the start of term in advance. That was about 5 years ago.

I know some1 who runs a fantastic music group for babies to preschool all ages together, not something where U have 2 pay by the term or limited spaces or age-segregated (U can tell I dislike all those things, they're impractical & exclude parents like me and kids like mine what r parents of several supposed 2 do?????). Typically 30+ parents each week, as a fundraiser for NCT.

What about Jo Jingles ???

Thanks guys. It's good to know what works and doesn't work and what people like and don't like. I'd better get on the internet and find a resource for shakers

Thanks, I've just looked at the Jo Jingles website. It all seems very well organised and structured. Do you think most Mums are looking for a structured programme with specific goals or a more relaxed group, more of a "get together" for Mums and babies/toddlers?

we have been going to a group run by presma - not sure if that is just Norfolk based or national. We have been going since DS1 was 6 months (now 3) - age groups are sometimes mixed and sometimes roughly the same age. There are quite a few people there with 2 kids of different ages (and then there's me with my 3 year old and my 18 month old twins ).

Great fun had by all.

I think that one of the companies (Bojangles?) offers franchises. I may be completely wrong about the name though! Have you tried googling pre-school music? A friend of mine was employed at a school doing this sort of thing - we went for 2 years and it was fantastic. Unfortunately she's resigned from the school but wants to carry on doing it. Please let us know how your search goes! Whereabouts are you BTW?

That'll teach me not to refresh the page after I begin writing my post!

Tommy, I'm in Edinburgh but my husband and I are hoping to go and live on the island of Islay. I am looking for a way to combine my music talents with earning a bit of cash.

Wow, just googled pre-school music and got loads of useful resources. I think dh will have to look after ds for a day while I research this properly.

We currently attend a Kindermusik class which I think is a Canadian company operated internationally on a franchise basis. There are 4 different programmes covering up to 18 months, 18 months-3yrs, 3-5yrs and 5+ although our teacher currently only offers the younger two age groups. The main difficulties would be sufficient continued demand and start up costs as the programme seems quite regimented, each term is themed and session planned out, with specific in class and home materials.

I go to Rhythm Time and it's great.

My kids and I used to go to Music Together and I think their program is fantastic.

They do have a few of them in the UK too. See here and click on International Centers.

I go to a music with mummy class and it is a franchise. The girl that does it went for 2 days training down south somewhere. If you want I can ask her about it at the next class on Saturday. ps Do a weekend class as lots of working mums want to do things with their children but can't as they're all on during the week!

So MrsCasa - Southampton would be a bit of a long way to come then....

My DS goes to a Music with Mummy, with his grandad, on the day his grandparents look after him. The woman who runs it does lots of classes in the 1-3yr age group. AFAIK they follow a standard MWM structure, with a hello song, theme of the term, listening slot, instrument slot, moving and action songs, goodbye song. They then have 30mins for tea / coffee / biscuit and she gets a big toy box out. She has a couple of kids herself, is v. musical and also has a PGCE. I've only been a couple of times, but I think that the programme's pretty good, but the sessions are really good because she's so good. A lot of it is about managing a group of toddlers! I love the tea / buscuit / play time, as a chance to get talking to people.

She runs 8 sessions per week in the same age group, and says that's more worth her while than doing different age groups as she has to pay extra per age group not per session.

The other franchise that seems to be widepread is "Monkey Music" - most of my friends in different areas go to those classes.

We are also going to start going to a singing session run by an individual through a church (i.e. not a franchise). I don't know whether individual groups would be any better / worse than franchises. Personally, if I were to do it, I'd like the franchise providing all the programme, and also the increased advertising (but I'm tone deaf, so I couldn't do it!).

Looks like a pretty good way to make some money - when your own kids are pre-school you can take them with you, and as it's term time only for when they are at nursery / school. I don't know what the franchise costs, or what we pay (PILs pay, I think it works out as £3.50 per session, paid half-termly), but I once worked out that she seems to get a pretty decent amount per session (upto about 12 kids) if she doesn't have to pay too much for the franchise.

She used to use her own home till parking became a problem, and now rents a small room in a village hall.

i've been to 'busy bees' which is very active round here. it's fine, but i'd prefer to learn/relearn trad songs, folk and nursery rhymes, rather than the quite bland songs that bb mix in. also groups can be very big, also the only groups for ds's age (under 1) happen at his nap time.

i'm taking ds to sing and sign in sept, which i am excited about.

I have been to both music with mummy and jo jingles.

I like music with mummy better because it seemed (at this particular class) it was smaller in numbers, they followed the same 'theme' the whole term and there was alot of repition of songs from week to the next